A panel has provided recommendations to improve literacy levels in Australian students. Image Source: Rorozoa, via Freepik
Recent findings from the Literacy and Numeracy Education Expert Panel have recommended overhauling the assessment strategy and centralising literacy education in the ACT.
The panel was set up in late 2023 after reports found that one third of ACT students were unable to read at the Australian standard.
Focused on the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), the panel made eight recommendations to the government for improving literacy education.
The recommendations are focused on creating a centralised approach to education, including an overhaul of the assessment strategies.
These would include compulsory phonics tests in Year 1, which includes identifying letters via sounds to understand the building blocks of word structure, and progress checks for students in Year 6 and year 10.
Barney Dalgarno, panel chair, recommended the centralised approach not only for the betterment of students, but also to improve conditions for teachers.
The report found that, currently, ACT schools work in a “highly autonomous” manner, which leads to “a high degree of variability between schools, with significant workload implications for both teachers and school leaders”.
This causes an increase in the workload of teachers, who have to juggle multiple burdens and what the report describes as “work that’s being duplicated across schools”.
“What I would really hope to see in a few years’ time, is more teachers saying ‘I’ve got my weekend back’, because I’m getting the support that I need,” said Dalgarno.
The Australian Education Union’s ACT branch has welcomed the report’s findings and recommendations on behalf of teachers.
“If this report is implemented properly, it’s a game changer, because it will tackle that workload by providing so much of that material centrally,” said one speaker, identified as Ms Burroughs.
Parents have also shown their support for the recommendations, stating that the evidence-based approach will prevent children “falling behind”.
ACT Education Minister Yvette Barry has stated that the government has accepted all eight recommendations “in principle”.
“The evidence that’s been collected and researched by the expert panel is telling us what we need to do and the reset that we can do in our public schools,” said Berry.
“It’s making sure that we do provide the best possible education to every child, to meet every child where they’re at, and making sure that every child, regardless of their circumstances gets the best possible opportunities to a great education.”
The ACT government announced it would provide a response in June.
